This article is the third in a series on using social network analysis to explain the structure of extremist online communities and events. The paper that this article is based on will be presented at the 10th International Social Informatics Conference on September 26, 2018. Back in 2017 I began collecting and analyzing social media… Continue reading “Understanding the Network of Anti-Muslim Groups on Facebook”
British values are often comically referred to as the need for orderly queues, a respect for the Queen and cucumber sandwiches with pots of tea, or for one of my participants in my forthcoming PhD thesis, “I’d think of someone getting drunk like on their summer holidays in Ibiza or something”. However, for Government officials,… Continue reading “Mapping the Malleability of British Values”
German right-wing extremism is currently on everyone’s lips. The right-wing threat in Germany is increasing in violence, as the recent rallies and demonstrations in the eastern German cities of Chemnitz and Köthen have made clear. Adding to the danger is the fact that right-wing activists are now closely linked, from football hooligans to neo-Nazis to… Continue reading “German Right-Wing Terrorism”
As a practitioner working in Prevent I am always grateful for the opportunity to engage with and learn from academia. Whilst I cannot profess to have any theoretical or conceptual expertise in areas such as “cumulative or reciprocal radicalisation” or “interactive escalation,” I do feel that my personal experiences of working in counter terrorism can… Continue reading “Reciprocal Radicalisation – Practical Examples of Prevent Support”
The 2015-2018 Refugee Crisis The 2015-2018 European refugee crisis has provided significant challenges to mainstream centre left parties, as well as the governance of the European Union (EU). As a result, the salience of immigration as a political issue has skyrocketed to prominence and remained high in the public domain. This has created distinct electoral… Continue reading “Opening up Pandora’s Box? How Centre Right Parties can outperform the Far Right”
Founded in 2013 in response to the eurozone crisis, the party evolved through various stages, increasingly campaigning on a nativist ticket. Revolutionary fascists and (nominally) democratic radical-right actors have long told apocalyptic stories of national decline, of the ever-growing threat of the demise of the nation through decadence and cultural/ethnic “pollution.” These stories, however, do… Continue reading “Alternative for Germany and the Myth of National Rebirth”
Themes of conspiracism, betrayal and national decline have become a central feature of British politics and were crucial to the anti-establishment sentiment which contributed to the Brexit vote in 2016. Since then, Brexiteers, such as Jacob Rees Mogg, have accused the Government of being complicit in the ‘management of decline’ whilst others, have recently argued… Continue reading “The Postwar Radical Right, British decline and Conspiracy Theory”
Gender studies challenge existing structures that are perceived as natural and enduring, and in doing so, they directly challenge the ideological commitments of the radical right. In August, an announcement was made by the Hungarian Prime Minister’s office that gender studies courses, as of September 2019, would not be funded or recognised by the government.… Continue reading “Gender (studies) trouble in Hungary”
The right-wing promise to protect “Hindu traditions” offers shelter to male constituencies troubled by the apparent threat of women’s professional and sexual independence in modern India. In his savage book, Capital: The Eruption of Delhi, on the nature of India’s capital’s transformation as a global metropolis, Rana Dasgupta describes the besieged forms of Indian patriarchy in the modern city… Continue reading “The Hindu Right’s War on Women”
In October Brazilians will vote for president in particularly troubled election. It is the first ballot after Dilma Rousseff’s controversy impeachment, which put into power the unpopular interim Michel Temer. Besides, Lula, the first candidate in the polls, is in prison and was barred from running the election. Finally, it is the first time that… Continue reading “Bolsonaro: Radical Right-Wing Populism reaches Brazil”